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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29696988">Home is Where the Heart Is</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlwaysAkin/pseuds/AlwaysAkin'>AlwaysAkin</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Originals (TV), The Vampire Diaries (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, F/M, Family Bonding, Fix-It, Gen, Reincarnation</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 06:40:22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,266</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29696988</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlwaysAkin/pseuds/AlwaysAkin</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Eleanor Mikaelson just can’t seem to die. Well, it doesn’t stick, anyway. Ever since Ayana cursed her a thousand years ago, she’s been stuck in a cycle of rebirth. With over thirty lives under her belt, she’s very nearly reached her breaking point. But this new life seems to be getting interesting. Not only was she born Ella Lockwood and into a family of werewolves, but Elena Gilbert looks more and more like Tatia from her old village - and her siblings might not be as dead as previously assumed.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Caroline Forbes/Klaus Mikaelson, Caroline Forbes/Tyler Lockwood, Elena Gilbert/Stefan Salvatore, Mikaelson Family &amp; Original Female Character(s), Tyler Lockwood &amp; Original Female Character(s), Vicki Donovan/Tyler Lockwood</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>23</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. A Lot of Things to A Lot of People</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">


        <li>
            Inspired by

            <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/12279174">Anchorage</a> by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/WickedofEastEgg/pseuds/WickedofEastEgg">WickedofEastEgg</a>.
        </li>

    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>According to the people of Mystic Falls, Ella Lockwood was a strange child in many ways. Mayor Lockwood’s only daughter was many things to many people. </p>
<p>Her mother, Carol, thought that Ella was a prodigy, bragging to anyone that would listen about her daughter’s stellar grades in school and knack for languages. Ella was already fluent in French and Italian, and at only fourteen, that was so impressive to her. It was almost like she had learned them already. </p>
<p>(Of course, she had, but more on that later.)</p>
<p>Her father, Richard, didn’t have a vested interest in her. He needed an heir to take over the Lockwood fortune, and as the youngest, and a girl to boot, she wasn’t the top priority. </p>
<p>Her uncle, Mason, hadn’t seen her since she was eight years old, but upon triggering his werewolf curse, worried about her and Tyler. He wouldn’t let his nephew and niece suffer the same terrible fate that he had. </p>
<p>(She had suffered it before. Twice.)</p>
<p>Tyler was resentful of his goody-two-shoes little sister, to say the least. His mother was so proud of the little overachiever, who had perfect grades in school and played the violin and won history fair and volunteered all across town. She didn’t seem to realize how much harder the pressure to measure up to that made his life, or worse, she didn’t care. And then she had the nerve to lecture him on how to live his life? Tyler was certain there was nothing in the world that would ever get the two Lockwood siblings to see eye to eye. </p>
<p>(A shared werewolf curse and a major revelation would beg to differ.)</p>
<p>She wasn’t just important to her family, however. </p>
<p>She was April Young’s best friend, until April was sent to boarding school the summer before freshman year started. </p>
<p>She was a reluctant Sheila Bennet’s pupil in magic, though the elderly witch had no clue how a Lockwood of all people had ended up with the gift. She chalked it up to a cosmic fluke. </p>
<p>She was one of the only friends of the recently orphaned Jeremy Gilbert, and a distinguished member of five different clubs in town. She was the little girl Elena Gilbert remembered babysitting, and Bonnie Bennet remembering hanging around her house, with eyes far too sad for such a small child.</p>
<p>She was all of these things, and more, because Ella Lockwood was an important part of a tiny community in a small town, but Ella Lockwood wasn’t all she was. </p>
<p>She carried the names and lives of the girls that she had once been with her wherever she went. Ever since she had been set on this cursed path of endless rebirth, over one thousand years ago. Evelyn. Dottie. Beatrice. Agnes. Madelyn. Lucretia. Efa. Edith. So many more.</p>
<p>But there was one life - the most important of all. Her first life, the one she could remember as clearly today as she could back then. One thousand years ago. </p>
<p>Back when she had been Eleanor Mikaelson.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Family is Always the Same (It's Always A Pain in the Ass)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Eleanor dreams of learning magic with Kol, and wakes up for her first day of high school at Mystic Falls.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Chapter 1</p><p>“Kol, you’re being ridiculous.”</p><p>Eleanor sat on the cold dirt floor of the Mikaelson family home, rolling her eyes up at her little brother. His brow was slick with sweat and the bags under his eyes were heavy, but he bore a triumphant smile. </p><p>“You’re just angry that I bested you again, sister,” Kol said. </p><p>Eleanor took a deep breath, resisting the urge to leap up and rip the smug expression off her brother’s face. She was the older sibling, she reminded herself, which meant that she had to display some degree of maturity. </p><p>“Go on, Nora, say that I’m better than you. In every regard.” He rested his elbows on the wooden table where the open Grimoire rested, looking down at her. </p><p>On second thought, if her brother kept talking like that, she was going to rethink her position.<br/>
“One bloody time, Kol, you did it quicker than me just one time!” Eleanor protested. “This doesn’t mean that you’re better at magic then I am.” </p><p>She turned her glare towards the scorch marks on the table that Kol’s ray of light had greeted, staring as if they had personally offended her. As the only two Mikaelson children capable of magic, the two had always had a competition to see who could learn spells quicker - mostly in good fun. </p><p>It never failed to infuriate Eleanor that Kol, three years her junior, was always able to master the spells their mother taught them far before her. And he was so unbearably smug about it, too. </p><p>“It wasn’t just one time. I distinctly remember last week, with the tree sapling, and the week before, with the water in the tub…” </p><p>Eleanor could feel her face contort, as the familiar feelings of exasperation filled her. A common side effect of spending too much time with her little brother. “Well, I’m better at healing magic.”</p><p>It was true. Her brother had never had the patience to learn the complex and slow healing magic spells that Ayana had been teaching Eleanor, so it was the one area of magic that she could claim superiority over. </p><p>Privately, Eleanor thought that if Kol could sit still long enough to learn them, he would surpass her in the mastery of the healing spells. His power was just too vast. She’d never tell her brother that, however. He’d be completely insufferable. </p><p>“I don’t intend to be the next village healer as you do, sister. I have no use for such spells.”</p><p>“What if a neighbouring tribe invades our village and cuts off your head? I’m sure you’d find use for such spells then.” Eleanor’s tone was teasing, her irritation long forgotten. She was resigned to the fact that Kol would always be her superior in the magic arts. And he was just thirteen, after all. There was plenty of time for their positions to change.</p><p>“Such violent thoughts, Nora.” Kol’s tone was teasing. “Father would say it’s unseemly for a proper woman.”</p><p>Eleanor laughed. “When have I ever been a proper woman?”</p><p>“That is true,” a new voice interjected. </p><p>Eleanor turned to glare at her twin, who was hovering by the doorway, sword in hand. “Nik! How long have you been standing there? You gave me a fright!” </p><p>“Long enough to see you bested by our younger brother yet again. Perhaps it’s time to give up mother’s craft and find something you’re actually good at?” Her brother’s eyes were filled with mirth. So he hadn’t crossed paths with father yet today. </p><p>“Why don’t you, Nik? I heard Elijah bested you yet again yesterday?” Eleanor needled her brother, knowing he wouldn’t take it in poor spirits after a day had passed. </p><p>Kol snorted at this. “She has the better of you there, brother. It happens occasionally.”</p><p>“As grateful as I am to have my wonderful sense of humor appreciated,” Eleanor said. “What brings you to the house at this hour, Nik? It can’t possibly be a newfound interest in magic, can it?”</p><p>“Hardly. Mother’s kicking you out, she needs the house today. She sent Finn to tell you, but…”</p><p>“He couldn’t bear to be in the presence of such foolish children for even a moment. I understand perfectly.” Eleanor interjected. Out of all her siblings, she was the most distant from him. He remained firmly at their mother’s side, and never spent any more time with his siblings then he had to. </p><p>She dusted off the dirt covering her skirt, groaning as she rose to her feet. “We ought to go and find Henrik, then. His skill with a blade should be enough to best Nik now. He is six after all…” </p><p>She raced out of the home and towards the village center, hearing Kol’s laughter and Nik’s grumbles of annoyance behind her. </p><p>~~</p><p>Ella Lockwood pressed snooze on her alarm clock for the second time, smiling in relief as the obnoxiously loud chorus to Final Countdown stopped. That had been a good dream - memory, more accurately. One of the only side-effects of her reincarnation that she enjoyed on occasion was dreaming of her past lives. It was certainly better than dreaming of being burned at the stake for practising witchcraft a few nights prior. </p><p>Still, the dreams were a double-edged sword. Thinking of her very first family, the one she had been by far the most attached to, always brought about a glimmer of sadness. It had all fallen apart after Henrik’s death, and then Ayana had killed her just hours before the family dinner that was supposed to happen that night. </p><p>She had woken up the next day in a haze of confusion, viewing the world from the eyes of a newborn once more. All the way in the Old World, she realized later. Far from where her family had been, and with no way to find where they had once lived. </p><p>She hoped that her siblings had lived long and happy lives, that Kol had become a master of magic, and that Rebekah had found the love she was seeking, and that Nik and Elijah had resolved their differences at last.</p><p>But it had been a thousand years, and she knew her siblings were long dead. </p><p>It had been a shock, the realization that she had been reborn into a family that lived in the same place her first family had all those years ago. Though it looked nothing alike, the feel of nature through her magic was very much the same. It was comforting, to be back home after a thousand years. </p><p>“Ella! Tyler! It’s time to get ready for school!” Her current mother’s voice echoed down the hall, and Ella got out of bed, grabbing her clothes and makeup bag and changing quickly. It would be a terrible impression to be late on the first day of high school, and it wouldn’t fit in with the narrative she had cultivated - of the Mayor’s overachieving, brown-nosing daughter. Anything to distract them from the fact that she had much more knowledge then she should. </p><p>Ella smiled at Carol as she came out of her room and walked down the stairs. “Morning, mom. Sorry I slept in.”</p><p>Ella liked Carol Lockwood - unlike her husband, she had never been judgemental about her daughter’s occasional lapses in memory (a side effect of having a thousand years worth of memories, Ella had always assumed), and mood swings. Though she could be a little snobbish and a bit of a control freak at times, her heart was in the right place, and she truly loved her children. She was the best parent Ella had had for a couple of lives at least, so she wasn’t complaining. </p><p>“At least you’re up now. Are you excited to start high school?” Carol knocked on Tyler’s door again, and Ella bit the inside of her cheek to keep in a laugh when she heard a thud and a string of curses through her brother’s door. </p><p>“Yes! I mean, it’s gonna suck not having April here after she moved to England, but I can’t wait for all my classes. Plus, I’m basically an honorary member of half the clubs after all the volunteering I did this summer.”</p><p>At the sound of another string of curses coming from Tyler’s room, her mother sighed. “Well, at least one of my children is interested in academics. Breakfast is on the counter, dear, I just need to deal with your brother now.”</p><p> </p><p>“This is exactly why I suggested you buy an airhorn, mom.” Ella said. She recalled from last year the struggle that her mom had, waking Tyler up everyday, but it seemed Carol was determined to do things the old fashioned way. </p><p>“Now’s not the time, sweetheart,” Carol said, but Ella could see her lips twitch. </p><p>~~</p><p> </p><p>The drive to school was more than a little tense. Tyler had gotten his license over the summer, and was required by their parents to drive her to school. Getting his license was the only thing had done over the summer, Ella had pointed out a few days ago, except Vicki Donovan. Her brother had not found that funny, and had punched her in the ribs. </p><p>Thank Odin for supernatural healing. Her brother hit hard, even when he didn’t mean to. She had a nagging suspension that the Lockwood’s might not be as human as they seemed. Tyler and her dad’s most aggressive outbursts seemed to line up with the lunar cycle, at any rate. </p><p>“So… Any plans for today?” Ella asked, desperate to fill the awkward silence. </p><p>“Don’t talk to me. Not after you sold me out to mom and dad. I told you specifically not to tell them where I was, and you did it anyway!”</p><p>She sighed inwardly. Tyler had cut family dinner to go to a party on Friday, and made the mistake of telling Ella. Though their father being there was a surprise (Richard was almost always too busy for family dinner), Ella had never been able to hold up under his interrogations. Richard had always reminded her far too much of the first man who had raised her… Mikeal. </p><p>“Well, what was I supposed to do? Tell them you were at the library? Yeah, like they’d believe you were actually doing something productive.” Ella winced almost as soon as the words came out of her mouth. She had gone too far. She could see the hurt on Tyler’s face for a brief second, before they were back to stony silence. </p><p>“Ty, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-” </p><p>“Save it.”</p><p>They drove the rest of the ride in silence.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I am very excited about all the dynamics between the Mikaelson siblings, though it will be a long time before we actually get there. </p><p>I wanted to show that she had a positive relationship with all of her siblings (with the exception of Finn, though that was mostly indifference), as a contrast to her current, antagonistic relationship with her new brother Tyler. That will change though! In season 1 Tyler was a pain and I can't wait for him to go through character development. </p><p>Eleanor is a witch-werewolf hybrid, for clarification. She and Kol were the practising witches of the original children (though she wasn't a prodigy like he was), and as Klaus's twin, she was an untriggered werewolf. Though maybe not untriggered in all of her lives...</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I always loved reincarnation fics and I thought doing a sort of character study would be interesting, after reading the great fic Anchorage by WickedofEastEgg. </p>
<p>I will probably continue this in the future - I have ideas. I hope you enjoyed it!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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